Promote the safety and emotional stability of community members experiencing behavioral health crisis.
Minimize further deterioration of community members experiencing behavioral health crisis.
Help community members experiencing crisis to obtain care and treatment.
Prevent placement in settings that are more intensive, restrictive, or costly than necessary and provide appropriate interventions focused on harm reduction, using natural supports and community resources.
Reduce the impact of behavioral health non-emergencies in the emergency department.
Reduce the time law enforcement is in the field with a crisis situation.
Identify and secure appropriate transportation to Marshall Hospital for psychiatric emergency services.
Provide outreach and engagement services
to individuals who have been identified by
the Crisis Intervention Team as needing
follow up contact.
Psychiatric Emergency Response Team
El Dorado County Health and Human Services Behavioral Health Division, partnered with the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office to implement the Psychiatric Emergency Response Team (PERT). The team is funded through the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) under the Prevention and Early Intervention Community Based Outreach and Linkage Program. PERT is staffed by an El Dorado County Behavioral Health Clinician and a Sheriff’s Deputy who provide field-based support for behavioral health crisis.
The objective of PERT is to de-escalate a behavioral health emergency and, if possible, redirect the individual to behavioral health services instead of hospitalization or incarceration. The PERT clinician accompanies the deputy in their patrol vehicle. They respond to calls for services received by Dispatch, due to a behavioral health crisis. Once the scene is secured, PERT provides behavioral health and substance use disorder interventions to individuals experiencing a behavioral health crisis, including an assessment by the clinician. The team determines if the individual is to be placed on a W&I 5150 hold or provide them with community resources for care.
Additional goals of the PERT program are to:
"Working with people in crisis, bringing them appropriate services, beyond the
ER or Jail"
20
Operations